Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law) [Hardcover]

Antony Anghie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0521828929 | ISBN-13: 978-0521828925

This book argues that the colonial confrontation was central to the formation of international law and, in particular, its founding concept, sovereignty. Traditional histories of the discipline present colonialism and non-European peoples as peripheral concerns. By contrast, Anghie argues that international law has always been animated by the 'civilizing mission' - the project of governing non-European peoples, and that the economic exploitation and cultural subordination that resulted were constitutively significant for the discipline. In developing these arguments, the book examines different phases of the colonial encounter, ranging from the sixteenth century to the League of Nations period and the current 'war on terror'. Anghie provides a new approach to the history of international law, illuminating the enduring imperial character of the discipline and its continuing importance for peoples of the Third World. This book will be of interest to students of international law and relations, history, post-colonial studies and development studies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a particularly important [book] for international lawyers, scholars and activists to read."
American Journal of International Law

"Anghie's narrative venture at reading the devastating histories of the making of the 'modern' and 'contemporary' international law, relations, and organization remains especially compelling. He brings home the roles of imperialism in full play, and war, in the contemporary remake of international law."
Leiden Journal of International Law

"Anghie makes an important contribution to the field of international law."
Law and Politics Book Review

"... much of this book will be of great interest beyond the discipline of international law - particularly to scholars of international relations, and post-colonial and development studies ... an excellent and most welcome contribution."
European Journal of International Law

"...argued meticulously and compellingly and should be required reading for all scholars of international law."
Modern Law Review

"Imperialism, Sovereignty and International Law is a work of expert scholarship that is simultaneously accessible and engaging. It inspires a questioning of our assumptions about international law about the motivations for our own work. It should be read by anyone interested in the future of international law."
Sydney Law Review

"...Anghie's book is a thoroughgoing account that gives voice to sentiments that seldom see the light of day, let alone are adjudged worthy of dissemination by a prestigious press. The rereading of international law is a useful corrective to conventional perspectives that normalize subjugation and its rationalization by any means necessary."
Law and Society Review

"Anghie's book lays out an excellent argument for the colonial background of international law and its institutions, and it does so with numerous fresh insights and clear command of a wide range of materials."
Law and History Review.

"A very useful book that presents, in a very clear way, how international law has been forged from its origins as an instrument to differentiate the Western and Third World countries."
Alfredo Fortes, Ottawa Law Review

Book Description

This book examines the relationship between imperialism and international law. It argues that colonial confrontation was central to the formation of international law and, in particular, its founding concept, sovereignty. This book will be of interest to students of international law and relations, history, post-colonial studies and development studies.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (March 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521828929
• ISBN-13: 978-0521828925
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #545,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Law > Specialties > Air & Space

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12 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Narrow, Expensive, March 1, 2007

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Reader (Arlington, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law) (Hardcover)

"Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law" is a thoughtful and eloquent but very esoteric book about the treatment of non-European peoples in international law. Readers should know that it's not a law book -- it doesn't analyze legal rules or unpack judicial opinions. It's not a history book, either -- the author, Antony Anghie, doesn't chronicle events and did no research in primary sources. Rather, his book is a meandering political and jurisprudential meditation on how the Euro-centric international legal system has been complicit in the subordination of non-Europeans. The text hops from Francisco Vitoria to the Berlin Conference to the League of Nations mandate system to the War on Terror, with little underlying continuity apart from the basic idea that international law has never been neutral.

Much of Anghie's thesis is true, but there are gaps in his argument and he uses history selectively. He writes, for example, as if international human rights law was invented by the Bretton Woods institutions to force capitalism on developing countries. He reaches this conclusion only by ignoring the origins of human rights law in the calamity of World War II. He also fails to mention that the most effective human rights instrument in the world -- the European Convention on Human Rights -- is binding only on European countries. To use another example, he cavalierly ignores a huge body of social science showing that institutions and governance matter to development. Instead, he writes as if underdevelopment is caused by a rigged international economic system -- but he doesn't discuss the economic reasoning behind this problematic conclusion.

Anghie will give aid and comfort to Third World nationalists who reject international scrutiny of human rights and believe that economic development must be state-directed. This nationalist discourse has been exploited by dictators from Castro to Mugabe and has brought untold ruin on the Third World. It cries out for unmasking by critical thinkers like like Anghie. Alas, he never takes up this job. Justifiably outraged by the hypocrisy and violence of the West, he is blind to the homegrown failures and grotesqueries of the developing world.

This wildly overpriced book is for law libraries only.